Real simple: Pussy Riot backed Putin's administration into a corner and the outcome is a major embarrassment internationally for the Putin government in Russia.

Had they been arrested for misdemeanor public disorder, fined, and sentenced to time served -- they whole thing would have been forgotten. But to charge them with Felony Hooliganism and sentence them to two years only shows the government's own weakness and appeasement of religious furor -- that is just plain stupid.